Andy Murray Vs Ivan Ljubicic on Monday in Zagreb, Croatia

Ivan Ljubicic will be performing in front of a home crowd and this will be the highest ranked player Murray as faced since Federer.

This could be the first match, this year, that Murray is expected to lose and this, ironically, could go in his favour. Murray delighted in upsetting the odds for most of last year and he will relish the opportunity to do so again.

Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/4659120.stm

Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic Lose in the 1st Round of Australian Open

Andy Murray and doubles partner, Novak Djokovic, were defeated by Fabrice Santoro and Nenad Zimonjic, 7-6 (7-5) 6-3.

Nonetheless, a bemused Murray was, once again, asked to speak to the media:

"I've just lost in the first round of a doubles tournament and every single person in the media's here to come and speak to me.

"It's not often that you're asked to speak to this many people when you've lost in the first round of a doubles tournament. I think in some ways I have had a good press but it can be quite difficult for me because I'm expected to do so well this year.

"It's good for British tennis that everyone's here but it's maybe not as good for me that there's so many people all having their opinion about my game and trying to find other people's opinions on me."

The media may feel wronged by Murray's mild complaint that they are putting too much pressure on him, but when newspapers are getting excited by a match against Hewitt, before Murray has even played his first round opponent, accusations of overenthusiastic journalism seem warranted.

But, the media pressure will continue, so Murray will have to learn to live with it, like it or not.

Murray has beaten players better than Chela and the majority of his fans were also cautiously optimisitic about seeing Murray Vs Hewitt.

The first round defeat seems to have been a combination of Chela on top form and Murray making a slow start to the year, but still comes as a disappointment to anyone who loves to watch him play.

Still, at 18 years of age (lest we forget), there is still a lot of tennis to be enjoyed by Murray fans.

Source:

http://www.sportinglife.com/tennis/...

Andy Murray Defeated in Straight Sets by Chela in Australian Open

The warning bells should have gone off when the media insisted on writing about a potential meeting with Hewitt, rather than the tough, experienced opponent that Chela would prove to be.

Despite that, I still expected Murray to raise his game and win. What I didn't expect was for Murray to fail to even challenge for a set. Chela ran out the winner 6-1 6-3 6-3.

Andy Murray commented:

"Everybody has a bad tournament sometime. Unfortunately, it came here. But I’m going to have much better days than this one, and I’m sure I’ll have worse days. You guys (the media) are expecting me to win matches like this. The guy’s ranked 20 places in front of me. He is a much better player than me."

It seems that Murray is struggling to get going again after the winter break and, although his fans will allow him all the time in the world to start rolling again, it'll be a frustrating wait.

The 2nd link below was written before today's defeat, but makes some interesting points about Andy Murray's ranking.

Sources:
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/sport/...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...

Andy Murray's Schedule for the Australian Open

If I've worked this out correctly, the UK is 11 hours behind Australia, which means the Vodafone Arena matchs for the 2nd day starts at midnight tonight.

There are two matches prior to Andy Murray's match with Juan Ignacio Chela, so the start time will depend on how long the previous two matches last. It could be as early as 4-5, Tuesday morning or, if Haas and Gasquet manage an epic five-setter, it could be as late as 7-8.

Source:
http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU...

Andy Murray Faces Juan Ignacio Chela in the First Rnd of the Australian Open

Andy Murray will face the Argentianian, Juan Ignacio Chela (46) in the first round of the Australian Open next week.

On paper this is an easier tie than Murray's first two defeats of the year, but this will still be a tough game against a more experienced opponent.

The winner of this match will likely face Lleyton Hewitt in the 2nd round, the same player who defeated Chela in the 3rd round of the Australian Open last year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1...

Andy Murray Defeated By Mario Ancic in Auckland

Andy Murray lost in straight sets, 6-3 7-6 (7-4), in the 2nd round of the Heineken Open in Auckland.

Andy Murray will be especially disappointed at dropping 2 set points while 5-3 up in the 2nd set. Ancic made Murray pay by breaking back and eventually taking the set and the match in a tie-break.

Murray claimed to be pleased with a four match warm up before the Australian Open, but admitted that he needed to work on his first serve - a double fault costing him one of the lost set points in the 2nd set.

Andy Murray's ranking has risen sightly to 62.

Sources:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/sport/...
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/tennis/...
http://sport.scotsman.com/...

Andy Murray Through To The 2nd Round in Auckland

Andy Murray defeated Denmark's, Kenneth Carlsen 7-5, 6-2 in windy conditions that caused both players to struggle with their serves.

Murray lost a 4-0 lead in the first set to be pegged back to 5-5 by the experienced Dane and showed his frustration by smashing his racquet into the ground and earning himself a caution from the empire.

Many feel that Murray's temper is an essential part of his game but if, as Andy has previously stated, he wishes to emulate Roger Federer, he will need to maintain better control of his frustrations.

Despite his outburst (or maybe because of), Andy Murray saved two break points in his next service game and then broke Carlsen's serve again to take the first set.

At 5-2 up, Carlsen took a time out for an ankle injury. Undeterred, Murray broke Carlsen in the next game to complete his victory.

After the match, Murray managed to upset certain sections of the crowd with an off-the-cuff remark that he and his opponent had played like women in the opening set.

Later on, Murray qualified his comments by saying he was making reference to a comment made by women's tennis player, Svetlana Kuznetsova. I'm not sure if passing the blame will get him off the hook quite so easily, but any Brit will tell you that Murray's comment was likely nothing more than a colloquial expression.

Andy Murray's next opponent is Mario Ancic (22) who cruised through his first round match against Mark Neilson 6-1 6-2.

Sources:
http://www.sportinglife.com/tennis/...
http://www.sportinglife.com/tennis/...
http://www.sportsline.com/tennis/...
http://www.smh.com.au/news/tennis...

Andy Murray Defeated by Tomas Berdych in Adelaide

Tomas Berdych (24) defeated Andy Murray in three sets 7-6 6-4 1-6

The scoreline would suggest a better performance from Andy Murray than in the first round.

"Compared to my first match it was a lot better performance, so I have to be positive about that."

Andy Murray will need to defeat players of this calibre if he is to realise his goal of entering the top 20 before the end of 2006, but this is only the first tournament of the year.

The Australian Open will an excellent opportunity to gain some ranking points and begins in less than two weeks.

http://www.sportinglife.com/tennis...

Andy Murray Wins Opening Match of 2006 in Adelaide

Before Andy Murray's match against Italian, Paolo Lorenzi, Murray was keen to point out that this would not be an easy match, desite this being Lorenzi's first ATP Tour match.

Lorenzi had the benefit of three qualifying matches last week, during which time he would have an opportunity to acclimatise to the intense Australian sun.

So perhaps it was no great surprise that Lorenzi took the first set 6-3.

Murray, however, settled in nicely over the next two sets winning, ultimately, 3-6 6-0 6-2.

Andy Murray will now face Tomas Berdych (24) in the 2nd round. Murray defeated Berdych 6-4 2-6 6-4 in the Basel, Switzerland in their previous meeting.

Sources:
http://sport.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=9252006